Apple (other makes are available) watches and heart rate

Heavens, how scarey.

Sarah75

pinkprincess

My Apple Watch alerted me to a very steep sudden rise in my HR six months ago, I have COPD and have a finger tip monitor for my oxygen levels.My levels had dropped to 70 % I got a quick dash to hospital (by taxi) to ind I had suffered a large Pulmonary Embolism had to stay in for four days am now on daily thinners.
A combination of HR alert low oxygen and my presence of mind to get a taxi rather than wait for an ambulance likely saved my life. Pulmonary Embolism claimed the life of one of my sisters a few years ago, by the time she got treatment it was too late.

Wow. Glad you’re ok. That’s certainly a big recommendation for an Apple Watch!

Thankyou @Sarah75.
I was alone in the house at the time, no access to a car, but would have been unable to drive it.The taxi driver was excellent, got me there in 10 minutes and kept me talking despite me clinging onto the seat and struggling to breathe.
If I had waited for ambulance I would not have been typing this now. My son who is a bus driver had just started a long shift. My HR was 170

pinkprincess

My Apple Watch alerted me to a very steep sudden rise in my HR six months ago, I have COPD and have a finger tip monitor for my oxygen levels.My levels had dropped to 70 % I got a quick dash to hospital (by taxi) to ind I had suffered a large Pulmonary Embolism had to stay in for four days am now on daily thinners.
A combination of HR alert low oxygen and my presence of mind to get a taxi rather than wait for an ambulance likely saved my life. Pulmonary Embolism claimed the life of one of my sisters a few years ago, by the time she got treatment it was too late.

Wow. Glad you’re ok. That’s certainly a big recommendation for an Apple Watch!

My Apple Watch alerted me to a very steep sudden rise in my HR six months ago, I have COPD and have a finger tip monitor for my oxygen levels.My levels had dropped to 70 % I got a quick dash to hospital (by taxi) to ind I had suffered a large Pulmonary Embolism had to stay in for four days am now on daily thinners.
A combination of HR alert low oxygen and my presence of mind to get a taxi rather than wait for an ambulance likely saved my life. Pulmonary Embolism claimed the life of one of my sisters a few years ago, by the time she got treatment it was too late.

I've a Fitbit too. I monitor my daily/weekly steps and my sleep.
As far as heart rate goes, on the odd occasion I look at it, it clearly reflects when I've been out walking, shopping etc. It's very straightforward.

I have a Fitbit too. It's worth noting that not all the monitoring is available for all watches - we have some sort of Premium package on trial (came with the watch) that allows you to get extra monitoring. We will eventually have to pay to keep that. I don't take too much notice of it to be honest, we watch the trends (sleep, heart rate, etc) over the weeks and might take some notice if a trend changed. Mr A uses his to monitor his exercise, and has actually increased his walking considerably since he has had it. It has helped me understand my sleep patterns - I do appear to sleep more than I thought I did but it doesn't stop me feeling tired 🤣

Whether it's worth getting depends on what you think you will get out of it I think.

Thanks again / useful.

I can take calls, read text messages, check the weather etc on this new one. I’d had my old one about 10 years and was happy with it but I needed to charge the battery far more often so decided to upgrade. This one is the Fitbit Sense and I really like it but there are other, more expensive ones by Fitbit. I doubt there’s much between Fitbit and Apple but I wouldn’t be without one now.

I have a Fitbit Luxe which is small and does all the stuff I need and the app is excellent imo.

I think it's best to look at all the available options, as the models do vary a lot. I think the Samsung one measures BP, which would be amazing. My cuff monitor is agony to use.

Fitbits have obviously moved on a lot. I struggled to find one that was not too complicated. The Fitbit Luxe was the one I chose. It measures all sorts of things that I'm interested to know about. Quite straightforward.

I have an Apple Watch, and like it as it synchs to my phone and other Apple devices, meaning that I get texts and other notifications on it, and can just glance at my watch rather than get my phone out to read them.

The health things are fairly reliable - I have checked them against an NHS approved pulse thing (the fingertip ones) and my BP monitor. I like the sleep tracker, and the fact that the app i use notifies me if there has been a change in things like oxygen or overnight heart-rate dip, and as it allows me to log things like eating late or whether I've used an eye mask I can tell what helps me to sleep. I don't bother with the snore monitor as I prefer to have hypnosis or rain noise in my ears when getting to sleep, and you can't record and play at the same time.

My friend has a Fitbit, and it is much more basic - it measures steps, sleep and a couple of other things, but doesn't have the apps that an Apple Watch does. Maybe they have moved on since she got hers, and obviously a lot depends on what you are wanting from one.

I like my Fitbit. It has a heart rate tracker. I find it very reassuring. It will also notify me of fibrillation- so far so good!

Thank you. Useful info. I think a Fitbit might be more suitable.

I wear a Fitbit and have done for years. I’ve just bought a new one and decided to stick with Fitbit as read on a comparison site it was slightly more accurate than Apple. The one I have now (bought two days ago) can take an ECG but I don’t know how to do that as still getting used to it. Personally, I like them as they are good and I also like to track my sleep patterns.

I like it on my Apple Watch but I’m not fixated on it. When they say that good exercise should raise your heart rate it’s fun to see what effect my exercise has had. Holding onto the bar on the treadmill at the gym tells you about your heart rate as you exercise. The aim is to raise it.
I’d be worried if it told me about my blood pressure! That needs to be kept low.

I am not a fan, I have a friend that wears one and if her heart rate goes up slightly she panics causing it to increase and then sometimes has a panic attack and a visit to hospital where she always gets the all clear.

I know of relatives that have them and they swear by them as it encourages them to have lifestyle changes to get their rate as low as possible.

It depends on what sort of person you are.